Once we get into the economic society and establish a daily routine, our life becomes pretty predictable: wake up, shower, dress, eat breakfast, go to office, come back home. How do you feel once your work day is over? Do you sometimes find yourself still thinking about the work when you could actually be giving this time to yourself?
In order to give a break to your mind and avoid thinking about the work once the day is over, it is very important to create a new habit. Here I would like to share what I do on my daily life in order to stop thinking about work.
1. Find a physical activity that relaxes your mind
Doing a physical activity on your daily routine will do more than just release your stress. We always hear “healthy mind in a healthy body”, and it is true. Exercise bring a bunch of benefits such as producing endorphins that will help you be happier, regulate your calories, build strong muscles and bones and generally improve your well-being.
As a person who practices yoga I strongly recommend you to start the journey as yogi. However, if you feel like doing something more active, you may choose any of these: going to the gym, cross-fit, swimming, even dancing could be an option.
No matter which activity you chose to practice, the important is the perseverance of doing the exercise which will allow you to make it a habit until it becomes something natural to you on your day-to-day basis, just like brushing your teeth or eating breakfast.
2. Spend time with someone you care for
Once returning home from office, many of us continue either thinking about the work or just spending time on social media or TV. We may often skip even having dinner with our family members and spend a quality time together. Here is another simple, yet important aspect that will help release after-office stress: spend time with your family or someone you care for.
There is noting more rewarding than meeting real people and sharing quality time together. Go for a dinner with your friend or have a cooked meal at home with your family. You may even organize some activity together, like going for a movie, attending a concert, or just sitting in a park, talking and enjoying the nature.
We are a part of the society and living real life apart from social media will give you fresh energy to be used for the time that you spend at the office and need to be productive again.
3. Disconnect yourself
Living in a busy life, being overwhelmed with many responsibilities and equipped with many gadgets that require our immediate attention, it is very important to allow some precious moments to absolutely disconnect from everything.
One of the main things that we usually do is to get online right after finishing our work. Though you may be using internet for personal reasons and scrolling through your Facebook or Instagram just for fun, this habit actually does not let our brain rest fully. We are still consuming information and making ourselves engaged in external events or happenings. Try to be at least 5 minutes only with yourself. It will give space in your brain to slowly connect from one activity to another. You will see how after 5 minutes of being with yourself, you will do every next activity with more awareness and enjoyment. Be aware to approach those moments of silence in the most positive way.
4. Meditate 1 minute as a first step
To meditate for 1 minute a day? Yes, start with baby steps. 1 minute meditation after finishing your office work will create an empty space in your mind that will positively help you get rid of your thoughts, but not only that. It will create a habit to consciously decide on spending time to release and relax your mind.
Meditation is a very simple tool that you can use to relax your body and the mind. The main purpose in meditation is to focus your mind on a single thought. Is it possible? Yes, eventually when your practice becomes more constant and you add more minutes to your meditation, you will be able to spend more time and train your mind to be focused on a single thought. And this is where the magic happens: when you observe your mind relaxed and concentrated, you will observe how easy your body starts to relax with every breath in and out.
No need to take your work home and stress about it. All it takes is creating a new habit which will not only make your mind and body relax; it will increase your productivity at work.
Have you tried any of these tips before? Share with us and Jason L how it was and let us know if you have ideas for more tips that could help release after-office stress.